Psalms 19:7-11

19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect

and preserves one’s life. ¹ 

The rules set down by the Lord ²  are reliable ³ 

and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. ⁴ 

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ⁵ 

and make one joyful. ⁶ 

The Lord’s commands ⁷  are pure ⁸ 

and give insight for life. ⁹ 

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ¹⁰ 

and endure forever. ¹¹ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ¹² 

19:10 They are of greater value ¹³  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ¹⁴  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ¹⁵ 

those who obey them receive a rich reward. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 119:45

119:45 I will be secure, ¹⁷ 

for I seek your precepts.

Psalms 119:47-48

119:47 I will find delight in your commands,

which I love.

119:48 I will lift my hands to ¹⁸  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 119:103-104

119:103 Your words are sweeter

in my mouth than honey! ¹⁹ 

119:104 Your precepts give me discernment.

Therefore I hate all deceitful actions. ²⁰ 

Psalms 119:127-128

119:127 For this reason ²¹  I love your commands

more than gold, even purest gold.

119:128 For this reason I carefully follow all your precepts. ²² 

I hate all deceitful actions. ²³ 

Psalms 119:140

119:140 Your word is absolutely pure,

and your servant loves it!

Proverbs 3:17

3:17 Her ways are very pleasant, ²⁴ 

and all her paths are peaceful.

Micah 6:8

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you: ²⁵ 

He wants you to ²⁶  promote ²⁷  justice, to be faithful, ²⁸ 

and to live obediently before ²⁹  your God.

Matthew 11:28-30

11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 11:29 Take my yoke ³⁰  on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 11:30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

Romans 7:12

7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Romans 7:22

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

Hebrews 8:10

8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put ³¹  my laws in their minds ³²  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ³³ 

[19:7]  ¹ tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.

[19:7]  ² tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the Lord.” The noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law.

[19:7]  ³ tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

[19:7]  ⁴ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.

[19:8]  ⁵ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ⁸ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ⁹ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[19:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ¹² sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[19:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[19:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”

[19:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”

[119:45]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and I will walk about in a wide place.” The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive gives a further consequence of the anticipated positive divine response (see vv. 43-44). Another option is to take the cohortative as expressing the psalmist’s request. In this case one could translate, “and please give me security.”

[119:48]  ¹⁸ tn Lifting the hands is often associated with prayer (Pss 28:2; 63:4; Lam 2:19). (1) Because praying to God’s law borders on the extreme, some prefer to emend the text to “I lift up my hands to you,” eliminating “your commands, which I love” as dittographic. In this view these words were accidentally repeated from the previous verse. (2) However, it is possible that the psalmist closely associates the law with God himself because he views the law as the expression of the divine will. (3) Another option is that “lifting the hands” does not refer to prayer here, but to the psalmist’s desire to receive and appropriate the law. (4) Still others understand this to be an action praising God’s commands (so NCV; cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[119:103]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “How smooth they are to my palate, your word, more than honey to my mouth.” A few medieval Hebrew mss, as well as several other ancient witnesses, read the plural “your words,” which can then be understood as the subject of the plural verb “they are smooth.”

[119:104]  ²⁰ tn Heb “every false path.”

[119:127]  ²¹ tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.

[119:128]  ²² tn Heb “for this reason all the precepts of everything I regard as right.” The phrase “precepts of everything” is odd. It is preferable to take the kaf (כ) on כֹּל (kol, “everything) with the preceding form as a pronominal suffix, “your precepts,” and the lamed (ל) with the following verb as an emphatic particle. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 138.

[119:128]  ²³ tn Heb “every false path.”

[3:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “her ways are ways of pleasantness” (so KJV, NRSV). The present translation contracts this expression for the sake of smoothness. The plural of דֶרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is repeated for emphasis. The noun נֹעַם (no’am, “pleasantness”) functions as an attributive genitive: “pleasant ways.”

[6:8]  ²⁵ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

[6:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

[6:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

[6:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

[6:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”

[11:29]  ³⁰ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.

[8:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ³² tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ³³ tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.